Kolkata: The West Bengal School Service Commission (WBSSC) has removed 269 tainted candidates from the ongoing assistant teacher recruitment cycle and asked to be alerted about any others who may have entered the process unnoticed. A notice issued by the commission on Friday said the action followed a Supreme Court directive. It stated that 269 tainted candidates, including physically handicapped (PH) applicants of the 2016 first State Level Selection Test (SLST) for assistant teachers’ recruitment in classes IX–X and XI–XII, and the third Regional Level Selection Test (RLST) for non-teaching staff, have already been weeded out. According to the commission, several of these individuals had figured in the list of 1,806 tainted teachers from the 2016 selection process but still managed to apply for the ongoing 2nd SLST 2025.
To ensure no tainted candidate appeared in the recruitment examinations held on September 7 for IX–X and on September 14 for XI–XII, the commission cancelled admit cards issued to those on the tainted list. However, some slipped through, and a few even cleared the written test and reached the document verification stage, which is underway for the XI–XII level. Officials said candidates may have altered personal details, academic information or names of schools to bypass initial screening, as there was no in-person verification at the application stage. Discrepancies were expected to be identified during document verification. Verification for the XI–XII category will continue until December 4. For the IX–X category, only the written examination results have been published, with the preliminary interview list and verification pending. The notice stated: “If any tainted candidate manages to seep in, his/her details may be informed to our Advocate-on-record through a formal letter so that the WBSSC can take appropriate action.” The commission has not yet released the specific list of the 269 removed candidates, but sources said it would be published in due course.